Slow Burn: A Zombie Novel

by Mike Fosen

  But this new group needed watching. He could sense it.

  Walking over to the office window, Lewis cracked the blinds and peered out at the new group. They appeared to be gathering gear for a shift at perimeter duty. The big bald guy…Mike was his name? He was stacking some gear next to the ambulance. Lewis saw a piece of gear that made his blood pressure soar. A ballistic shield with big white lettering that stated POLICE.

  “Fucking cops,” Lewis muttered under his breath. “Yes they most definitely need to be watched.”

  24

  September 3

  Day 9

  The next guard we met shook my hand, telling me his name was Jack. He told me he was in charge of the perimeter detail. I had Jack give me a tour of the security measures for the perimeter while the rest unloaded whatever gear they might need. There was some shooting coming from the two southern corners of the safe zone, and we were sure to see some action soon. In the meantime, Stephen said he wanted to go over and see who was at the mobile command center that belonged to the department. We agreed on a parking spot for our three vehicles and decided to meet back up at this location in two hours. That would give Mattie time to go check on Holly and Vanessa as well.

  Walking with Jack, I learned that the perimeter basically was indeed a line of stacked vehicles and semi flatbed trailers. At least they were adding to it, I saw, as a few men drove a large front end loader up to the wall and stacked new vehicles on top of the lower layers which they had previously flattened. Other than the wall, they had very few actual armed guards providing protection for the people inside. I saw a few on the roof of the school, but I wondered what good they would do from there. I pointed out that fact to Jack as we walked the perimeter.

  “Yes, I do know that we’re way undermanned,” Jack replied, “but the Councilman refuses to arm the majority of people here because he doesn’t think that several hundred armed guys will all follow his orders. We’ve got about eighty to a hundred armed guards as of now. But we’re running three shifts, so they don’t go far.”

  “But you’ll never survive a concentrated assault if you had to,” I told him. “This place is too large. Everyone should be trained and armed.”

  “You’re preaching to the choir, my friend,” he said tiredly. “Look, I used to be a manager at Best Buy. I never even shot a gun up until a week ago. I just happened to be one of the first guys to show up. Now I’m in charge of perimeter security and am in way over my head.”

  “Relax, bro. If we can help out, we will,” I assured him. “We have a few guys in my group, including myself, with prior military experience, and we are all police officers as well.”

  “I’ll gladly take any help or advice you got to give. Hell, you can have my job if you want it,” Jack offered.

  “I’ll pass on that offer, friend,” I replied with a pat on the back. “After this afternoon’s run-in with that dork who is in charge, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  Jack chuckled at my comment and proceeded to show me the rest of the safe zone. The shooting was closer now, and Jack pointed at the southwest corner, where several men could be seen firing from raised bleachers, which had been moved from the football stadium.

  “We use loudspeakers to draw the infected towards our strong points in the two southern corners,” he explained, “and put our best shooters there. It mostly keeps the infected away from our gate and wall, which is still being finished.”

  “Now that’s a good idea,” I said while giving him a pat on the back. “Did you come up with that?”

  “Yeah, I did,” Jack replied. “And it’s been about the only idea that I have had that Lewis liked.”

  “Well, there’s going to be a lot more zombies coming, and soon I think.” As I said this, Jack looked at me with a funny expression. “Yep you heard me, zombies. That’s what we’re calling them.”

  Jack chuckled at that. I next gave him my first impressions and ideas on what he could do to make the safe zone more secure. Pointing to the vehicle barrier, I told him what it needed.

  “First we need more manpower patrolling the wall. Maybe we have them standing on raised platforms that could span out over the entire length.”

  Then turning and looking at all the refugees relaxing, I told him my thoughts. “All these folks fucking off is completely unacceptable. We need to train and arm all the people sitting on their asses and order them to pull their weight or get their stuff and leave.”

  Jack just shook his head and took in what I said.

  “And maybe set up shorter six or seven hour shifts,” I brought up next. “When people get tired they make mistakes. And there needs to be at least two bodies in each patrol group. No one works alone.”

  We walked the entire perimeter and shook the hands of the few guards we came across. I pointed out weak spots in the wall and talked of the need to really strengthen the entire perimeter, and suggested where to set up the guard towers.

  “Where are all of the weapons and ammunition stored?” I asked. “And how are you set for generators and fuel? Power to run lights and electronic equipment is going to be a game changer for this place in the long haul. Who knows how long until all this blows over.”

  “Lewis keeps a tight lid on the weapons, but I’ll look into it,” Jack promised. “And I’m not sure on the fuel situation. I’ll check on that as well.”

  “Okay,” I replied as we walked back to my ambulance. “Let me know.”

  Jack shook my hand and promised to get it done pronto and left to see to it.

  The others had arrived before me by the time I got back to the ambulance, and Chris was the first to ask me how it went.

  “The guard in charge, Jack, is a good guy,” I answered. “He is just in way over his head under the current circumstances. Some changes need to be made quickly, but I think we have some time.”

  “I ran into Adam,” Stephen next told me. “He had quite the story of how he drove the command center here after it was designated a safe zone. He met with that major from the National Guard and helped get the place organized. He is not getting along at all with Lewis and mostly stays to himself in the command center. He said he would be more than willing to help with a raid.”

  Adam was a fellow police officer that had been hired on at the department the same time as me.

  “I can’t believe Adam made it here,” I replied with a laugh. “I’ll have to say hi to the big guy later. And what did you find out, Mattie?”

  “Holly and Vanessa are doing fine,” she replied. “They both just wish they had more privacy. I told them I would try and help figure something out.”

  Chris and Dan talked of how they checked on the cafeteria and food situation. There seemed to be plenty of food for now, but the cooks were way over serving, and it looked more like a buffet in there. They didn’t know how long the food would last if Lewis kept up with his “keep the masses fat and happy” strategy.

  “He’s definitely using food as a means of power,” Dan said. “I think that’s why he doesn’t want people going out and getting their own.”

  “And one whole wing of the school seems to be off limits,” Chris added. “I think he keeps a lot of the stuff the military dropped off back there under guard.”

  Stephen filled us in on the news that a few guys from the police force were indeed here at the safe zone. The guys that were here, however, were the coward types. The type you could not depend on when your back was against the wall. Every department had them. It seemed that the day it all started to break loose, these guys were in the police station doing nothing or hiding while fellow officers were dying.

  I didn’t hide my displeasure at hearing this bit of news.

  “That’s who Lewis probably uses to keep all the supplies securely under lock and key,” I growled. “Jack, the guy who Lewis actually has protecting the place, seems out of the loop.”

  “We have some stuff to work out, that’s for sure,” Stephen responded. “It’s getting to be about dinner
time now. Why don’t we grab some food, pull some guard duty to help out, and then get some rest.”

  After a dinner of MREs, Chris and Dan volunteered for the remainder of the current shift, grabbed their rifles and headed off for the wall. Seemed those two had become close friends. Mattie said that she would like to help out the medics that they had on-site. They were way under staffed, and she had some medical training as an EMT. We agreed that would be a good idea.

  “Well, looks like we got the night shift. Let’s try to grab some shut eye first,” I said to Stephen.

  “Not so fast,” Stephen replied. “Appears Sgt. Grease Ball’s walking up behind you as I speak.”

  I stopped dragging out my sleeping bag and turned to see a familiar figure sauntering our way. Sgt. Henderson, a fat man with a greasy receding hair parked his largeness in front of us, looking at us with an air of self-importance.

  “I see you two are making friends,” he sneered. “Lucky for you guys making a complaint against you will do no good.”

  “And I see you haven’t missed any meals other than what missed your mouth and is spilled on your shirt,” I shot back, pointing at several large stains.

  “I can’t believe he is still wearing his uniform,” Stephen chuckled, loud enough for Sgt. Henderson to hear.

  “I have had enough of your insubordination from both of you officers! I’m still wearing this uniform because I didn’t abandon my post like you two did. I want you to apologize to Councilman Lewis right away!” Henderson brayed. “He is an important man who we are blessed to have lead us through these dark days.”

  “Blessed?” I said mockingly, looking over at Stephen who, like me, never did care much for Sgt. Henderson.

  “Did you hear something, Stephen?” I asked. “Sounded like a suck ass doing what he does best.”

  Stephen let out a roaring laugh.

  Sgt. Henderson’s face turned purple with rage. ”Why you little…”

  I stood up and got my nose inches from his face. “You got something you want to tell me fat man?” I asked in a dangerously quiet voice. “I would like to know how it is that we never saw you at all throughout that entire day we were fighting for our lives. Your spent your whole career hiding behind others. You’ve been a coward ever since I’ve known you. You can’t hide behind your badge anymore because these zombies don’t give a fuck that you are a cop. Now that the police department safety blanket you had is gone, you suck up to Councilman Lewis. Go back to your master, fat man. Stay out of my sight, and leave the fighting to the real men.”

  Sgt. Henderson tried to shout more orders, which sounded like a sheep bleating. I ignored him, unrolled my sleeping bag and climbed in, closing my eyes. Finally he gave up and fast walked back towards the school.

  “Things here are already off to a rotten start,” Stephen said after he climbed into the back of the ambulance and put some food in Buddy’s bowl. Buddy had been forced to hide out, and now Stephen watched him greedily wolf down his meal. “We might want to think of preparing to leave for the prison.”

  “Let’s give it a week or two, for Mattie’s sake,” I replied. “If it doesn’t get better, we can pull up stakes and head out.”

  “Sounds good,” Stephen said. “It was her idea to come here damnit. Guess we were blinded by her hotness.”

  “She is too hot for her own damn good,” I replied, agreeing with him.

  Stephen got his dog some water, and the last thing I remembered before falling asleep was Stephen telling the dog “good boy” for staying quiet and out of sight of Lewis and Henderson. He was pretty sure that there would be an even larger fight over the “no pets” policy at the school.

  * * * * * * * *

  We woke up sometime later and completed a shift on guard duty. It was dark, and most of the safe zone was quiet with the occupants fast asleep. Stephen and I spent most of the time talking with Jack on how to better run the security details. We decided in advance to leave Jack out of our plans on a supply raid in the morning and just deal with the consequences later. Stephen wanted to get some use out of his M1A rifle and spent a little time shooting the .308 at the zombies that were approaching from the east. While he did that I wandered around the school and came across the library. It was empty of people, of course, and I scanned some shelves. I spotted a few books of interest and placed them into my backpack. I was about to leave when a certain book caught my eye, the latest installment in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. When the last book came out in 2004 it was supposed to be the finale, but a new one had recently been released. I thought the ending had sucked so badly on his last book and apparently many others had thought so as well, at least enough to force the author to write another one.

  “He’d better not have fucked it up this time,” I muttered, placing the book into my pack with the others.

  I paused by the empty librarian’s desk and chuckled before leaving without having my library card swiped.

  Satisfied, and with dawn approaching, I headed back to our ambulance for a quick nap before our raid and arrived at about the same time as Stephen. He was grinning ear to ear.

  “Shoots like a champ,” he gloated. “My new scope is dead on!”

  Chris let us sleep until after ten and woke us up with Robert in tow. Dan was busy going over some gear he wanted to take on today’s raid.

  “Hey, Rob,” Stephen said. “I’m glad to see you can help out today. And has anyone seen Mattie?”

  Dan told us that he last saw her somewhere near the intake area this morning with the compound’s medical team.

  “See if you can find her,” I asked Dan. “We have some planning to discuss, and she needs to hear what we come up with.”

  Stephen and I started getting ready, and soon Dan and Mattie returned, along with another officer, Adam, following close behind on a department Segway personal transporter. I always thought those things looked goofy as hell, and were a waste of money. But I had to laugh as he pulled up. At least he wasn’t wearing the stupid bicycle helmet that came with it.

  “Hey guys, I’m glad to see you all made it,” Adam said as he came to a stop near the rest of us. ”Stephen told me you all arrived here yesterday.”

  “What have you been up to?” I asked while shaking his hand. “Besides rolling around on that thing like a dork.”

  “I’ve been in charge of the police mobile command center,” Adam replied with an air of authority, ignoring my playful ribbing. “And I have had my hands full keeping Sgt. Henderson and Councilman Lewis happy. Y’all look like you are up to something. Stephen mentioned yesterday he wanted to plan a supply raid.”

  “I was just getting to that, Adam, and I’m glad you are here because we could use the extra trigger man,” Stephen replied.

  “No problem,” Adam answered. “What are ya thinking?”

  “Now that all are here, we can get to it,” Stephen continued. “The handfuls of raids other people have gone on have returned with little or no supplies, from what I’ve been told. And Councilman Lewis hasn’t planned any additional runs. That does not bode well for the refugees here at the compound, because from what I can tell, the safe zone is burning through the food and medicine stockpiles at an alarming rate. At the most, this place has enough for one, maybe two more weeks.”

  “I’m convinced Lewis is sitting on a secret stash as well,” Adam informed us. “He’s got the east end of the school pretty much on lockdown.”

  “That may be true Adam,” I said, “but if this place doesn’t get overrun first, food is gonna get scarce, and sooner rather than later. After that happens, they will be looking to loot what little we have, even though it wouldn’t feed them all for even a single day!”

  Stephen nodded. “So what we have in mind is to set out on our own resupply raid, maybe hit the Sam’s Club warehouse down the street. I’m sure it’s been hit somewhat already, but there is bound to be stuff left.”

  Dan, Chris and Mattie all voiced their agreements and willingness to participate.


  Adam had the look of a kid about to rip open presents on Christmas day.

  “Oh hell yeah,” he said eagerly. “You have got to take me with you. I haven’t had hardly any trigger time here yet cooped up in that command center. I mouthed off to Henderson when I first showed up and he’s had me stuck shuffling fucking paperwork ever since. I’m dying to do something!”

  “You may get more trigger time than you really want, bro,” Chris mumbled quietly to Adam.

  “Alright folks,” I said. “Grab whatever gear you think we might need and meet back here in thirty minutes.”

  “What about getting clearance to leave the compound?” Adam asked.

  “You let me worry about getting clearance; you just get back here in thirty, which should be more than easy in your personal chariot.”

  Adam laughed, did some fancy turn and zoomed off.

  The others left to grab their gear and wolf down some food, but I just grabbed an energy bar and munched on it as I prepped an assault bag for the raid and then hit the shitter. By the time I returned, sighing in relief, most of the group had formed, and they were apparently waiting on me and Robert. Adam was present, minus the fancy ride, which he mentioned needed a fresh charge.

  “Everything come out okay, Mike?” Dan asked, munching on an unlit cigar.

  Refusing to be baited by him, I ignored the question. “Is everyone here?” I asked instead. “Good. Listen up, we will take the ambulance and head over to the nearby Chevy dealer and commandeer a couple of cargo trucks in order to load as much as we can.”

  Within a few minutes, Robert came jogging up to the ambulance with his shotgun in hand and Glock pistol in his old duty belt.

  “Sorry I’m late guys, I had to say goodbye to wife and kids,” he gasped, out of breath from the run.